Anti-terrorism prosecutor takes over German knife-attack case

MAGDEBURG: When Haben Gebregergish first immigrated to the German city of Magdeburg seven years ago, the Eritrean immigrant was walking to the supermarket with her child when an intoxicated woman approached her on the street.
At the time, Gebregergish did not speak German well enough to comprehend what the woman was saying. But Gebregergish says that when the woman threw a beer bottle at her head, she immediately understood.
It was one of her first encounters with racism, but certainly not the last. In the aftermath of a deadly attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg late last year, Gebregergish and other migrants who have settled in the city say they have experienced a sharp increase in racism and anti-immigration sentiments.
“We are the same as you,” Gebregergish said earlier this month. “We are not different. Just like you, we have feelings. Sometimes we are sad, sometimes we are happy, just like everyone else.”
The Christmas market violence was one of five high-profile attacks committed by immigrants in the past nine months that have made migration a key issue as the country heads toward an early election on Sunday. The suspect, a Saudi doctor, drove into the holiday market teeming with shoppers and left five women and a 9-year-old boy dead and 200 people injured.
The suspect arrived in Germany in 2006 and had received permanent residency, and authorities say the suspect does not fit the usual profile of perpetrators of extremist attacks. He is being held in custody as authorities investigate him.
Just one day after Dec. 20 violence, there was a large right-wing demonstration in Magdeburg, and verbal and physical attacks on people with a migrant background have increased significantly in the city since then, according to the German-Syrian Cultural Association in Magdeburg.
“The migrant community and the advice centers report that attacks have increased by more than 70 percent here in the city,” said Saeeid Saeeid, who came to Germany from Syria seven years ago and is a member of the association. “Racism already exists here and everywhere. But it has increased enormously since the attack.”
Ketevan Asatiani-Hermann, newly elected chair of the board for the Advisory Council for Integration and Migration in Magdeburg, said victims of racist attacks in the city often do not feel support from politicians or police.
“The hatred has always been there, people just didn’t dare to say it so clearly before,” said Asatiani-Hermann, who came to Magdeburg in 2011 from Georgia.
Officers sometimes target or search the victims first before the perpetrator, she alleged, and they also worry reporting an attack could have a negative impact on their residence status.
The Magdeburg Police Department did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Mayor Simone Borris, in a statement, said: “Cohesion and community are fundamental values of a city that are inviolable.” The mayor also referred media to online services for migrants, and said the city’s Cooperation with the Advisory Council for Integration and Migration will be expanded.
Magdeburg is located in the former communist east, an area where the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has its highest support. The party is polling in second place going into the upcoming election with about 20 percent support and is fielding its first candidate to lead the country.
Even though it’s highly unlikely to take a share of power soon, it has become a factor that other politicians can’t ignore and has helped shape Germany’s debate on migration.
The election’s outcome — and a potential gain in influence for AfD — could have a large impact on Magdeburg’s politics and everyday life, Asatiani-Hermann said.
Saeeid said the city’s migrants feel alone, and want to hear directly from their elected officials to address their concerns.
“We will not allow Magdeburg to become a playing field for racism and hatred,” he said.

BRUSSELS: The EU plans to crackdown on food imports that do not meet its standards as part of an agricultural policy review to be published Wednesday that looks to appease disgruntled farmers amid global trade tensions.
The European Commission is due to unveil a new blueprint for a sector that despite gobbling up a third of the bloc’s budget has long resented Brussels’s liberal approach to trade.
Months of protests last year saw farmers irked at regulatory burdens, squeezed revenues and what they see as unfair competition from less-regulated overseas rivals, hurling eggs, spraying manure and blocking the Belgian capital’s streets.
Following consultations with farming lobby groups and environmental NGOs, the “Vision for Agriculture and Food” promises to address some of those concerns.
To ensure that the agricultural sector is not “put at a competitive disadvantage,” the commission will pursue “a stronger alignment of production standards applied to imported products,” according to a draft of the text seen by AFP.
In particular, Brussels will see to it that “the most hazardous pesticides banned in the EU for health and environmental reasons” are not allowed back in “through imported products.”
The draft does not specify a timeline for that or what products or countries could be affected.
“The first mission of this vision is to reduce tensions and calm all parties,” said Luc Vernet of Farm Europe, a think tank, noting the text was “extremely cautious.”
The prospect of a potential ban on some imports could ruffle feathers abroad against the backdrop of a looming trade conflict.
The Financial Times reported this week US crops such as soybean could be targeted, after President Donald Trump unveiled duties that could hit European exports.
European farmers have also been uneasy at a trade deal with Latin America’s Mercosur the commission announced in December.


The draft document also vows to reform the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP), cutting red tape and better targeting mammoth subsidies toward farmers “who need it most.”
This suggests Brussels will move away from the current system, which calculates financial aid based on the size of the farms, favoring large landowners.
“This is a big deal,” said Celia Nyssens-James of the European Environment Bureau, an umbrella group of activists, noting that the lion’s share of money is now going to a minority of farmers who don’t “necessarily need it.”
“It’s a paradigm shift,” she said.
The EU subsidises farming to make sure enough food is produced at affordable prices, and farmers are rewarded for taking care of nature.
Those subsidies are massive and prized by farming states, most notably France, Ireland and eastern European nations, where farmers have a strong political influence.
Some 387 billion euros ($460 million) was earmarked for agriculture in the EU’s budget for 2021 to 2027.
Negotiations on the next instalment of the CAP for 2028-2034 are set to be one of the most sensitive subjects during EU chief Ursula von der Leyen’s second term in office, which began in December.
According to the draft plans, more money should flow toward young farmers as well as those who contribute to the environmental preservation or work in areas with “natural constraints.”
The document did not provide any details about how a new system could work.
Simplifying access to funding for small- and medium-sized farmers by streamlining “controls and conditions” is also envisaged.
Furthermore the text calls for the 27-nation bloc to reduce “dependencies” and diversify supply chains, with fertilizer imports from Russia highlighted as of particular concern.
Agriculture contributed 1.3 percent to the EU’s GDP in 2023, according to the bloc.
Europe’s agri-food sector employed 30 million people, accounting for 15 percent of EU employment.